


Confession in an Elevator

by MorganFaire



Category: Bleach
Genre: Canon Related, F/F, Trapped In Elevator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:15:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29826204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorganFaire/pseuds/MorganFaire
Summary: An elevator is always a great place for a conversation, right?Until the elevator in question breaks...
Relationships: Arisawa Tatsuki/Honshou Chizuru
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've thankfully never been trapped in an elevator, nor have I done extensive/any research on how long oxygen supplies will last in such a situation.  
> In other words, please don't come at me for discrepancies.  
> For context/timeline purposes, this happens immediately after 'Ichihime have a picnic', which you can read at your leisure from my list of works. (It's just how my brain works, but you shouldn't feel compelled to read it!)

After the picnic where Ichigo and Orihime had made the announcement of their new relationship, Tatsuki had found herself alone with a still upset Chizuru. They were simply walking in the same direction, she told herself, but then the rain had started. At first, it was as though the red-haired girl hadn’t noticed it, or perhaps didn’t care about her clothes getting soaked through. Tatsuki had to grip her by the elbow to pull her out of the downpour and into the closest commercial building — an arcade, if the noise was anything to go by.

The arcade occupies the entire ground level of the multistory building on the high street of main Karakura Town, and it’s filled to the rafters with fighting games, shooting simulators, prize claw machines and dance stations, and even a small bowling alley towards the back.

The pair wander through the building aimlessly, with Tatsuki following closely behind Chizuru to make sure she didn’t interfere with anyone’s gaming session, all the while listening to the tinny and repetitive jingles coming from the various machines and game stations. Neither speaks, mainly because of the level of noise in the arcade, but also because they simply don’t know what to say.

For Tatsuki, there was the strangest thought in her head that she should have realised something was different about Orihime as soon as she’d arrived at the large picnic blanket she had covered with food. Ichigo was there too, but he was keeping a good distance, and that’s what had thrown Tatsuki off her game. She had simply assumed that the nervous energy pouring off of Orihime’s body was because she had been there alone with Ichigo for who-knows how long. When Ichigo had made his little speech, she wanted to shake Orihime by the shoulders, lay into her for not telling her any sooner. But Chizuru had beaten her to it, flinging herself around Orihime’s shoulders and burying her face as close as she could to her large breasts, sobbing and saying something about her ‘one true love’ being taken away from her.

Completely absorbed in her thoughts, she doesn’t immediately realise that Chizuru had walked them away from the main arcade area and into a small alcoved room containing nothing more than a rusty old elevator. She closes her eyes and sighs with relief at the now dampened sounds coming from beyond the door that swings closed behind them, and when she opens her eyes again, it’s just in time to see Chizuru hit the sticky-looking ‘call elevator’ button.

“Woah, wait a minute Chizuru! We don’t even know if this thing is safe!” 

“It’s fine,” replied Chizuru as the elevator doors creak open. She hesitates and looks at Tatsuki before stepping inside, “and you don’t have to babysit me, you know.”

“T-that’s not what I’m doing!

Chizuru smirks and waves goodbye as the doors begin to slowly close between them.

"Shit!"

With how slow and jittery the doors are, Tatsuki can easily step into the elevator. She stands in front of Chizuru for a moment before moving to lean against one of the cold metal walls. 

"This isn't me babysitting you. As annoying as you are, I was worried by how upset you looked back there," she explained.

Chizuru mirrors Tatsuki's position against the opposite wall of the elevator, but the space between them is extremely limited. In fact, Tatsuki's sure she could extend her feet to touch Chizuru's.

The doors finally meet in the middle and close, but nothing happens.

"My apartment's on the top floor," said Chizuru, pointing to the panel of buttons next to Tatsuki.

"You  _ live  _ here?!"

"I thought you knew," she responded with a puzzled look on her face, "seeing how you dragged me in here."

"It was raining, and this was the closest building. I had no idea they'd even put an arcade here, let alone apartments."

With a sigh, Chizuru pushes herself away from the wall and pushes the button for the top floor of the building. She lingers for a long moment, her face very close to Tatsuki's. "The rent's cheap," she offered nonchalantly before falling back to her previous position against the wall.

"You live by yourself?"

Chizuru holds up a finger in a waiting gesture, and as she does so, the elevator rattles noisily into action. Once the sound dies down, she lowers her hand back to her side.

"Couldn't wait to move out from under my parent's noses."

Tatsuki huffs a small laugh as she imagines the walls of Chizuru's apartment covered in posters of naked women.

Chizuru eyes Tatsuki apprehensively before posing a question, "Did you wanna talk about Kurosaki-san and Inoue-chan getting together?"

"Not much to say other than it's about bloody time they did get together."

"I don't see the attraction, but I am happy for her."

"You didn't seem all that thrilled before."

"I know, but I had time to think about it. Having you walking beside me…it helped me to clear my head."

"I didn't do anything."

"Modesty doesn't suit you, Arisawa-chan. You might not have said anything the whole time we were walking, and it might've seemed like I didn't notice you, but I did. You stayed with me, and it made me feel safe."

"Chizuru…"

"Arisawa-chan, can I—"

The elevator jolts violently, and the already dim light in the ceiling flickers out completely, leaving the two young women standing in the dark.

"No no no, this is  _ not _ happening right now!" exclaimed Chizuru. The silence of the small space inside the elevator made it sound much louder than she had intended.

"It's fine, Chizuru. I’ll just press the emergency button," Tatsuki said into the dark before turning to the panel of buttons and jabbing her finger on the one reading ‘Emergency Buzzer’, her forehead creasing in frustration when nothing happens. 

"It's not working," she eventually confirmed with a sigh, pressing her forehead into the cool metal of the panel.

"This is decidedly not fine, Arisawa-chan!"

"Would you calm down?! You got a flashlight or anything?"

"Uhm, I think my phone has a torch."

"Good, mine too,” she said, pulling her mobile from her pocket and activating the dim backlight, “at least we can see now," she concluded with a shrug. 

Sliding down the wall at the back of the elevator, Tatsuki places her phone in the middle of the sticky floor, the camera flash shining up towards the ceiling. 

After a moment, Chizuru also places her illuminated phone on the floor and sits down next to Tatsuki. "We can see each other as we slowly suffocate, you mean," she muttered.

"That's not gonna happen."

"The emergency button didn't work, and my phone has zero bars. How else do you suppose we're getting out of here?!"

"Just shut up and let me think!"

For a long while, the only sound to be heard is the quiet, conservative breathing of the two women, both trying desperately to conserve whatever air supply was available to them. Amidst the silence, the sound of sniffling coming from Chizuru was deafening.

Tatsuki’s heart sinks in her chest. “I'm sorry for shouting at you," she said, barely stopping herself from reaching out to touch her. It wouldn’t be difficult in the limited space.

"It's fine. I was just thinking…I never even had my first kiss, and now I'm gonna—"

" _ Do not _ say anything about dying in here."

Chizuru chews on her bottom lip before glancing at Tatsuki from the corner of her glasses. "Can I tell you something?" Her voice was hesitant and small.

"If it's some kind of dying wish or whatever, I'll kill you myself."

"I know I always acted like I was in love with Inoue-chan, but I never was."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are heating up in the elevator...

Tatsuki waits for a punchline, but when it doesn’t come, she eyes Chizuru suspiciously from the corner of her eye, "You had your hands glued to her breasts almost permanently."

"I know," she responded meekly.

"What was it if not some kind of freaky obsession with her?"

Drawing her knees up to her chest, she rests her chin on her folded forearm and looks towards the elevator door. "I guess I thought I was helping Kurosaki-san, in a weirdly roundabout way,” she began with a shrug, “it's hard to explain, but I thought by verbalising those things, I'd help him realise his feelings for her, as well as how  _ not _ to treat her."

"That was strangely altruistic of you."

"It was also…I knew you'd stop me."

"What in the hell are you talking about now?"

"Heh. I only ever acted like that towards Inoue-chan when you were right there next to her. Did you never realise?"

"I guess…"

"It was intentional."

"Are you saying that you liked me hitting you?"

"I guess I am saying that. I liked the few seconds of attention it would earn me."

"You're not making any sense."

"You'd hit me or throw me to the ground, shout in my face and call me a perv…I didn't like  _ those _ things so much as I just put up with them so you'd notice me. It was never Inoue-chan that I liked, Arisawa-chan."

She’s grateful for the dim light of the elevator when she feels blood rushing to her face.

"Chizuru…I think I know where you're going with this, and I think you should just stop. I mean you said you'd never kissed anyone, and that's sad and all, but you're gonna get out of here and find someone. All those things you said just then…it just sounds like you're ready to give up!"

She recoils as if she had just been hit across the face before moving towards the corner of the small box. "But I mean it! Before the elevator stopped, I started saying something, right?! What I just said is what I wanted to say anyway, Arisawa-chan! You won't believe me, but I swear it's the truth."

“No. We’re gonna get out of this damn box, and you’re gonna realise that it was just the lack of oxygen in here or something making you say crazy things.”

“Is it really all that crazy though?!”

“Of course it is! You’re not attracted to me, Chizuru, you never have been, and everything you’re saying just sounds like some kind of messed up rationalisation for losing the person you  _ do _ like. So please, stop talking like that and help me get us out of here.”

Chizuru nods dejectedly and follows Tatsuki’s directions in her various attempts to free them from the elevator, including trying to pry open the doors or lever up part of the ceiling. In the end, nothing works and they collapse back on the sticky floor of the box, panting even though they know their air supply must already be running low.

Still not daring to speak, Chizuru reaches into her backpack and retrieves a bottle of water, taking a small gulp of lukewarm liquid before offering it to Tatsuki.

"Thanks," she said after taking a healthy sip and handing it back. 

A new, uncomfortable silence falls over them as they begin to consider the reality of them not escaping from the elevator, and Tatsuki in particular spends some time reconsidering everything Chizuru had said.

She  _ had _ been about to say something as the elevator stopped, and it  _ was _ only when she was sitting with Orihime that Chizuru would act like a hugely inappropriate pubescent boy…

They both jump in their skins as a knocking comes from somewhere on the other side of the elevator doors.

"Building maintenance, anyone in there?"

Chizuru scrambled to her feet and slammed into the doors, pounding her fists against the slimy surface in her excitement of hearing a new voice and desperation of being heard.

"Uncle! Uncle Seiji, is that you? It's Chizuru!"

"Chizuru?! We'll have you out of there soon, okay? That damn arcade cut power to the whole building," explained the man.


	3. Chapter 3

Five minutes later, the light in the ceiling of the elevator finally flickers back on and the panel of buttons lights up.

"Chizuru, I know you got power back in there now but don't try pressing any buttons, okay? I'm gonna do it from this side."

Similarly to when they had first stepped into the elevator some twenty minutes ago, the box jolted suddenly and loudly into motion, moving up for just a few seconds before once again coming to a stop. But this time, the doors slowly creak open.

Forgetting all about the awkwardness of their earlier conversation, Chizuru flings her arms around Tatsuki's neck and squeezes her tightly, only letting go when the doors stop creaking, opening fully and revealing an open area of green grass surrounding a smaller block of apartments.

The man Chizuru referred to as her uncle steps into view and greets them both with a wave of his hand. 

"Just a few seconds away from where you needed to be. Only you could be so unlucky!"

“Unlucky or not, I’m just glad to be out of there. Thanks again Uncle Seiji.”

While Chizuru and her uncle continue talking about the seemingly endless issues the arcade downstairs had been causing since it first opened some months previously, Tatsuki moves away from the elevator bay and sits on the grass nearby, letting the crisp and fresh post-rain air fill her lungs and chase away some of the thoughts that had clouded her mind in those final moments. Some of those thoughts in particular, however, stubbornly linger.

She risks a glance back towards Chizuru. “Shit,” she muttered under her breath in frustration. Her heart was still racing, but she can no longer blame it on her body’s survival instinct.

A few minutes later, Tatsuki feels the warmth of the early afternoon sun disappear from her face, opening her eyes to find Chizuru standing above her with a look of concern behind her spectacles. 

“You okay?” she asked as she knelt down beside Tatsuki. She pulled a face of disgust momentarily as moisture from the grass soaks through her stockings.

“Glad to be alive.”

“For a minute there I was sure you’d press the elevator button again and leave,” she said with a shrug, “I’m glad you didn’t.”

“I’m never stepping foot in an elevator again. Ever.”

Chizuru laughs. It starts small, as if she’s nervous or hesitant to laugh in case Tatsuki wasn't joking, but soon her shoulders start shaking and her chest heaves as more laughter escapes her throat. 

It’s a gloriously light laugh, full of life and energy and Tatsuki realises that she has never heard it before. She feels her chest tighten again, but she can’t tell if it’s from her realisation of not ever hearing Chizuru laugh or the laugh itself. Whichever one is closer to the truth, she knows she wants to hear it again.

“Fancy a beer?” she asked after her fit of laughter subsided.

Truthfully, Tatsuki fancies something entirely different, but she nods anyway and follows closely behind Chizuru towards her apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have smut drafted for when these two get inside the apartment...  
> If you want it, let me know??


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to everyone reading!  
> Things are starting to heat up between these two~

Chizuru had only just closed the door behind them when Tatsuki's mouth crashed against hers, taking her completely by surprise as she fell against the wall of her apartment, Tatsuki falling against her torso as if their bodies are connected by magnets. Her glasses fog from the warm breaths flowing between their faces, she wants to stop for air, but she doesn't want this to end…in case it never starts again.

Just as she's considering her options, Tatsuki breaks contact between their lips but keeps their foreheads pressed together, breathing heavily and trying to wet her throat.

"You kissed back."

"Was I not supposed to?"

"It means you were telling the truth back there. I'm sorry for being such an arse about it."

Her head rears back against the wall in confusion. "Does that mean…do you not like me too? Was that just some kind of test?!" Countless emotions surge through her and she shoves Tatsuki away, perhaps with a little more force than what was necessary, because Tatsuki falls to the floor having tripped against the step up from the entryway.

Her own face fills with shock. "N-No! Chizuru, why would I do that?"

"That's why I have to ask! Because I don't know. I feel like I don't know anything anymore, Arisawa-chan!” She steps out of her shoes as she speaks, needing to do something to stop her from looking at Tatsuki as she continues ranting. “I spilled my heart to you back there and you swatted it away like it was nothing more than a pesky mosquito, and then you kissed me?! What am I supposed to think!"

"I needed time to process it, that's all! And then your Uncle was there, helping us get out, and I finally let myself accept something I've been ignoring for far too long."

"Say it."

"I do like you, Honshou Chizuru. A heck of a lot."

Countless seconds pass as Chizuru observes her, looking for any sign that she was lying before finally nodding and extending an arm to help her stand back up. "I'm sorry for shoving you like that."

She takes the offered hand even though she doesn’t need it, pulling herself up and using the momentum to bring their faces close together again. Her eyes dart towards her lips, but she doesn’t move in for the kiss. "I've had worse, but you're stronger than you look."

"Shoes off, and I'll crack open those beers." She side-steps around Tatsuki and moves purposefully towards the kitchen area.

With a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, Tatsuki watches her retreating form as she pulls her feet from her trainers, not bothering to untie the laces. Her eyes stay trained on Chizuru’s hips as she moves to follow her into the apartment. "So long as we actually drink them. Nothing worse than flat beer."

"Arisawa Tatsuki, are you suggesting that we should kiss again?" she asked over her shoulder, noting how Tatsuki’s eyes had quickly darted back up to her face.

"If you want to?"

She smiles before pulling open the fridge door and bending to locate the chilled beer bottles within. "God yes. Beer first,” she said, offering one of the bottles to Tatsuki, “and while we drink, you can tell me how that wasn't your first kiss," she added with a quipped eyebrow.

"Wha-?"

"Don't deny it. It was far too good."

They leave the bottle caps and the opener on the kitchen counter, and Chizuru ushers Tatsuki to sit on the sofa with her.

"But if it was your first, how do you know any different?"

"TV, movies, even books! They all go on about how awkward and  _ slobbery _ everyone's first kiss is supposed to be, and what happened just now was neither of those things."

"Maybe they got it wrong."

"All of them? I don’t think so. So, spill!"

She sighs down the neck of her bottle before taking a large sip. "I was on the competition circuit a few years back, just after we all graduated high school, and there was this boy who kept smiling at me. He came to all my matches, seemed to cheer me on, and he finally approached me after I got through to the quarter finals. We talked for ages, watched the other matches, ate greasy food…god, you were right about it being slobbery!"

"What happened?"

"Turned out his sister was also in the competition, and he was trying to distract me so she'd win."

"That's terrible!"

"People will try all sorts of things to get an edge in a competition. I couldn't prove it to get her disqualified, so I beat her fair and square instead. And then I punched her brother."

"Did you like him? Before you found out, I mean."

"I thought I did. He was nice, friendly, athletic…handsome, I guess. That kiss…I always thought you were supposed to get butterflies, y'know? That didn't happen back then, and it felt  _ gross _ . Wrong on all sorts of levels."

"And just now?"

"An entire greenhouse full of butterflies."

"Same."


End file.
